


If I Stay

by zemoe



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff, Game developer Kenma, Happy Ending - maybe, Host Club host Kuroo, Host club AU, M/M, One Shot, Taking care of sick person trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 21:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14457804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zemoe/pseuds/zemoe
Summary: Kuroo is a Night Club Host and Kenma is one of his regular customers. When Kenma didn't show up at the club for too long, Kuroo got worried and managed to find out from Kenma's coworker/friend that he's down with a fever.Taking matters into his own hands he decided to visit Kenma at his house, and nurse him back to health.A short one shot chronicling these two men's awkward and slow realization of their feelings.





	If I Stay

Eight days. Eight days since Kuroo last saw his favourite customer. While the other guys at the club preferred to fawn over the more social patrons of the establishment, Kuroo found himself absolutely drawn to the unsociable blond who frequents the club at least once a week.  
  
Of course, as per his job requirements, Kuroo would still shower all his customers, women and men alike, with lavish attention. And the patrons would in turn pamper him and the other hosts with orders of expensive champagne and seafood platters. Such are the nature of Kuroo's work at the Host Club in Ginza.  
  
But the man in question, Kozume Kenma, caught Kuroo's eyes almost right from the start, mainly by being visibly uncomfortable with being there.  
  
Kuroo still vividly remembers the first time they met. But that's a story for another time.  
  
At the moment Kuroo was more concerned with any updates on his favourite customer's whereabouts.  
  
"Did he get bored of me? Am I being cast away like an unwanted candy wrapper? Will I ever get to see him again?" he complained loudly to the other guys in the break area. He was starting to annoy Bokuto, his coworker, with his incessant whining about missing his man. And Bokuto almost _never_ get annoyed by anyone. Just as Kuroo was almost deflated with unease, he spotted something of interest.  
  
"Hold my beer," he told Bokuto as he made a beeline for an orange-haired customer with a renewed sense of purpose.

 

***

  
Kuroo kept ringing the doorbell to the small apartment. He knew for a fact that Kenma was home since the faint sound of the TV could be heard from somewhere inside. It wasn't until at least 5 minutes of relentless ringing later that he heard the door unlock with a click – and nothing else.  
  
He waited patiently for the door to swing open but ten seconds had passed and still, there was no movement at all. After a beat he twisted the door handle slowly only for the door to abruptly swung open, no doubt caused by a heavy body leaning against it. Luckily he managed to catch himself and said body, which sure enough turned out to be a passed out Kenma. Kuroo kneeled down at the doorway, gently cradling Kenma to lower him to the floor while he decided what to do next.  
  
"How the hell did you manage to fall asleep against the door while standing up buddy?" Kuroo crooned softly while pushing Kenma's hair out of the way to feel his temperature (which was unsurprisingly scorching) with a forehead touch.  
  
"Excuse me for barging in..." Kuroo said to no one in particular, and he effortlessly picked up Kenma to take him to bed. He felt just a little bit self-conscious about trespassing someone's home, going back and forth between justification and making excuses in his head. He felt Kenma stirring a little in his arms as he made his way around Kenma's home to find the right room. As he tucked Kenma in his futon, he felt almost protective of the man, a wave of affection swelled inside him for his supposed "just a favourite customer".  
  
"Yeah I don't think you're just a customer to me at this point huh", he sighed loudly.  
  
Kenma suddenly squinted his eyes open at that, blinked a few times and seemingly focused his vision on Kuroo as they made brief eye contact. Kuroo awkwardly lifted his hand in greeting, just about to explain why he's there when Kenma closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.

 

***

  
The distant sound of chopping woke Kenma up, eyes bleary from sleep and his head still feels a little heavy but it's miles better than how it was earlier. Still lying on his futon, Kenma tried to rub the drowsiness away with careful circular motions of his forefinger to his temple. The last thing he remembered was the persistant sound of the doorbell ringing him awake, messy black hair, and strong stable arms that held him.  
  
He mentally wrote his thoughts off as feverish hallucinations, and tried to drift off back to sleep when a sudden clattering sound jolted him back awake. Realising that the sound was coming from inside his apartment, Kenma willed himself to sit up slowly and not a second later he was greeted by a flustered-looking nightclub host, of all people, running into his bedroom.  
  
"I- ugh shit I wanted it to be a surprise- but then the damn lid fell and- ah why wasn't I stealthier, I thought I was being super stealthy!-" upon seeing Kenma's utterly confused look, Kuroo backtracked.  
  
"Ugh okay okay lemme start over. What's up, Kozume-san?" he said animatedly.  
  
An awkward ten seconds passed.

 

"Hi," was the curt reply. "Mind telling me why and _how_ are you here?"  
  
"Well... you haven't come 'round in awhile and I got worried. Last night I asked that lil birdy uh- Hinata? who's always with you, where you were and he told me you were sick and-"  
  
"And he just gave you my home address?" Kenma said suspiciously, also mentally made a reminder to smack Shouyou for his big mouth later when he's well enough to go to work.  
  
"Ah don't be mad with him, he had to. I practically blackmailed him," Kuroo grinned.  
  
"I got your address from him because the club refuses to give it to me, something about customer confidentiality. I mean I couldn’t even get your phone number from them," Kuroo added helpfully when Kenma just stared at him with a blank expression.  
  
"Uh-huh," said Kenma simply, rubbing his temple again. He was still trying to process this unexpected but not necessarily unwelcomed presence in his house, and he could feel the incoming wave of another headache attack.  
  
"Anyway, why don't you try to go back to sleep and I'll finish up in the kitchen. Then we can have lunch-", a quick look to his wristwatch, "-early dinner together," Kuroo corrected himself.  
  
“Ah but before that, why don't you take some medication first. I got you pudding too, I'll go get them.”

 

  
Kuroo went to the kitchen without waiting for Kenma's reply to grab the store-bought pudding and a bottle of painkillers.  
  
Once he came back he handed two pills of Tylenol and a glass of water to Kenma.  
  
“And here's the pudding. They should be easy enough to eat.”  
  
“Thanks,”  
  
"You're very welcome," Kuroo grinned; not the usual thousand watts lady/gent killer smile though. This smile seems much more sincere, genuine and warm.

  
  
Kenma was about to take a spoonful of pudding when Kuroo suddenly broke out in laughter. Kenma cocked his head at him with raised eyebrows, a very clear "huh?" painted on his face.  
  
"Sorry sorry, it's just. It's like I'm seeing two Kozume-san's here" Kuroo said, barely able to contain his snickers.  
  
Kenma still didn’t get it so Kuroo pointed his index finger to Kenma's hands, and it only took him a few seconds to go from clueless to _fuming_.  
  
"I don't look like a pudding."

  
Kuroo laughed again, though he had the decency to look sorry for his joke this time. Kenma tried to pointedly ignore Kuroo and his lame jokes, but he subconsciously puffed up his cheeks in annoyance, looking much like how a hoarding hamster would look. Kuroo had to summon most of his willpower to stop himself from pinching Kenma's cheeks. The Host Club's guidebook never said anything about pinching their customer's cheeks but Kuroo reckoned it would be quite frowned upon, so he refrained from doing so. Instead he watched his 'patient' eat for a few seconds before getting up.

"I'm just gonna be in the kitchen. Eat up and try to get some sleep," Kuroo was halfway up before he knelt back down and pressed his forehead to Kenma's to feel his temperature.  
  
"Your fever is still quite high… Shout for me if you need anything yeah," and with that he's gone.  
  
Kenma didn't say anything to that, didn't even react to Kuroo's extreme invasion of his personal space. In fact, he seemed to have stopped moving altogether for a few seconds. His mind was still reeling from the sudden close proximity just now, his face getting more flushed by the second. He was almost thankful that his fever could mask some of the blush that he felt rising from the base of his neck up to the tip of his ears. And he was thankful that Kuroo had gone back to the kitchen now, else he'd just be smarmy over Kenma's reaction.

 

  
He continued eating his pudding while pondering the turn of events for the day. He normally didn't like having people around the house, much less rummaging through his things. But he decided that yeah he was a little hungry and hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon so there was no harm in indulging Kuroo, was there? He did seem sincere enough and if Kenma's being entirely honest, he sort of did miss the man's quick wit along with their easygoing banter.  
  
He finished his last spoonful of pudding, which incidentally was his favourite brand. He still can't believe that Kuroo would buy that exact brand though, almost as if he knew. Although that isn't possible since no one knows that. He doesn't talk about himself enough to allow people to know things like that about him.  
  
So the fact that Kuroo managed to buy that, even if by accident – or more so because it's by accident – sort of made Kenma consider the possibility of fate. Not that Kenma would tell him that though, since that would just be extra ammunition for him to annoy Kenma.  
  
Although if Kenma was being entirely honest with himself, he was never truly annoyed by Kuroo – not really. Maybe he was in the beginning, back when he first started going to the club. Back when he only saw the guy as an irritatingly attractive but completely self-absorbed Host. That image of him quickly changed though once Kenma got to know him properly. Turns out he was just a huge dork. Still irritatingly attractive though.  
  
And if anyone asked him why he kept going back he'd say he's just being a supportive friend. That his colleague and long time friend, Keiji, fell in love with a loud and overly-friendly Host and he's just tagging along with Shouyou as Moral Support™. But one only needs to observe him interact with Kuroo long enough to see that he had fallen for the guy.  
  
Not that he'd admit any of that though.  
  
"I'm only letting him stay because I'm hungry, and need food," Kenma emphasized his thoughts to no one in particular and with that, he slowly drifted away to sleep.

 

***

  
  
Kenma woke up hours later – naturally this time without any sudden or loud sound jolting him awake. He sat up and slowly adjusted his vision to the dark as the day had already turned into night. In the dim room, he could barely make out a lumpy shape at the foot of his futon. He gingerly nudged the shape with the tippy toes of his feet; he had a pretty good idea what it was. When the shape didn't respond to his nudge he prodded with more force this time.  
  
The 'shape' groaned and stretched loudly before spreading its arms and sitting up, revealing itself to be Kuroo, of course.  
  
"Sorry for waking you up, what time is it?" Kenma asked.  
  
"Nah no problem. I was sleeping 'cause I didn't have anything better to do anyway. It's..." he squinted at his watch, "Fifteen past eight."  
  
"I slept for too long. Sorry you had to wait."  
  
"Hey, you can't help it right, you're sick. How do you feel now?"  
  
"The headache's gone. And I don't feel so sluggish anymore," said Kenma.  
  
"Now that's good! Bet you're hungry huh, let me go heat up the food then we can eat dinner together,"

 

   
As if right on cue, Kenma's stomach growled loud enough for Kuroo to hear. Kuroo chuckled lightly and got up, disappearing to the kitchen.  
  
Kenma looked around the room to gauge his surroundings. His fever had subsided but he still felt dazed and a little confused as one usually gets when under the effects of fever. He's still in his room obviously, but there were a few things there that were foreign to him: a carrier bag on his desk, a laptop bag with said laptop on top of it on the floor, a suede jacket too fashionable to be his hung on his chair, and a handphone with red casing beside his mattress.  
  
He could hear Kuroo in the kitchen; the soft clinks and thuds told him that Kuroo was still in the middle of dinner-serving prep. Against his better judgment he picked up the phone and clicked the power button, curious as to what picture Kuroo would use as his phone lockscreen. Seeing two little kittens appear on the screen, one black and one white, caught him off guard, and made him smile.

 

  
"If you're wondering about it yes, they're mine: Kuro and Haku," Kuroo said whilst holding a tray with two bowls of porridge, a jug and two glasses. His sudden reappearance startled Kenma, almost caused him to drop the phone.  
  
"You named your cat after you?" Kenma asked incredulously but somehow not surprised at all; that’s just like Kuroo, being his dorky self. Kuroo just grinned and shrugged, putting the tray of food on the foldable table on the floor next to Kenma.  
  
Kuroo sat in front of Kenma and handed one bowl to him, their fingertips grazed ever so slightly as Kenma took the bowl from him. The touch almost made Kenma drop the bowl but he recovered. Kuroo then took the other bowl and so they ate. As he ate, Kuroo could feel a burning heat at the tip of his fingers, which he waved off as just the warmth from the bowl, although he knew better than that; this was a different kind of heat. He cleared his throat self-consciously and ignored that thought.

 

  
If he had been looking at Kenma he would have seen the younger man's flushed face. He also would have seen him adjusting his bangs, hunkered over, trying to shield as much of his face from Kuroo as possible. And he would have seen that his flush wasn't caused by his fever, as he looked entirely too red for it to be from just his fever. But Kuroo wasn't looking then, because he was nursing a flushed face of his own.  
  
A veteran Host blushing red just over some innocent accidental hand touching is unheard of. And it's not like Kuroo had never touched Kenma at all. He had purposefully bumped shoulders, or touched Kenma at the club; all part of the Host charm that he's so used to utilising. But at the moment, just the two of them eating dinner together in an obviously domestic setting, sharing a different level of intimacy – one that Kuroo's not used to – he felt almost wistful. He knew that Kenma was special to him; he's his favourite customer to tease and chat with after all. But seeing a different side to Kenma, a more vulnerable side of him, had sparked a desire in Kuroo. A desire to maybe, share a life with Kenma outside of the confines of the night club.  
  
Kuroo might need to rethink his whole relationship with his favourite customer. “ _This might be why the club doesn't allow its host to fraternize with the customers huh”,_ Kuroo thought to himself, chuckling slightly.  
  
"What?" asked Kenma.  
  
"Ha... Nothing... After we've finished eating, I'll get all these cleaned up and will be out of your hair in a jiffy."  
  
Kenma didn't reply straight away as he seemed to be deep in thought, deliberating his answer.  
  
"It's getting late though… I wouldn't be against you staying here for the night," came the answer, looking straight at Kuroo as he said that.

He witnessed an absolute journey on Kuroo's face. From a silent gasp as the meaning of Kenma's words dawned on him, to disbelief, to a slow realization that Kenma's invitation was valid, and when Kenma cracked a small smile, his expression was one of utter delight. All that within the span of seconds. Kenma had never seen the man as expressive as he was then. He could dare say that witnessing that was life-changing, even. Although he acted like he didn’t see anything. 

 

They quickly finished eating after that, and Kuroo immediately cleared up the dishes and wiped the floor where they ate just now. Internally he toyed with the idea of wiping down Kenma’s body too with a wet a towel. “ _Not to be a pervert, but purely to help the man cool down. Since he has a fever and all,”_ Kuroo thought to himself, followed by an immediate justification of his reasoning to no one in particular. He couldn’t even convince himself with that though.

At Kenma’s suggestion, Kuroo took a quick shower and borrowed one of Kenma’s larger t-shirt, as his normal-sized shirts would definitely be too small on Kuroo – luckily Kenma prefers baggy clothes at home so he had a handful of them.

“Okay, I’m gonna go sleep in the living room now. Want anything?”

“…” a pause. “Can you wipe me with a damp towel? I was sweating a lot earlier and it feels clammy.”

“Uh… sure. Yeah, I can do that.”

“And can you get me a change of clothes too? They’re in my bottom drawer.”

“Uh huh, will do,” said Kuroo. He didn’t seem to be fazed much by the request so Kenma thought nothing of it. Inwardly though, Kuroo was freaking out and he aggressively thanked all the Gods that he knew of at the same time; he just couldn’t believe his luck. He tried his damnedest to not let his excitement show on his face though, sporting a casually stoic expression instead.

 

Kenma initially didn’t want to ask him for help with that since it would be beyond mortifying; but he really did feel unpleasant with sweat – his shirt had even began sticking to his skin. The faster they get this over with, the faster Kenma could go back to sleep. His body was starting to feel heavy and sluggish again since it had been almost 6 hours since he last took his meds.

Kuroo came back with a towel, water basin, and clean pyjamas for Kenma and sat down next to him. He hesitantly reached for Kenma’s shirt, asked for Kenma’s permission and started to unbutton the buttons. “ _Be cool man, be cool,”_ Kuroo thought to himself. He wasn’t as self-conscious as he was when their fingers touched earlier, since he was much more prepared for contact this time around. but he still took extra care not to touch Kenma more than he should though.

 

He dipped the towel into the water basin and wringed the excess water from it. As the damp towel touched Kenma’s skin, a wave of shiver ran down Kenma’s spine from the cool cloth which caused him to shudder. Kuroo held Kenma’s back to keep him steady, and he began to work on wiping down Kenma. Earlier when he was toying with the idea of doing exactly this, he imagined it would be an intimate and titillating experience.

Not that the real deal wasn’t intimate though, but instead of it being sultry and sensual, the bulk of Kuroo’s actual feelings can be summed up by being swept away by currents of affection. He felt like he needed to be as tender as possible, gentler than he had ever been with anyone in his life. He kept saying “May I?” and “Just a lil bit more Kozume-san,” to soothe Kenma and to make sure he didn’t unintentionally hurt him.

As he was wiping Kenma’s back and shoulders, his heart felt _so_ _full_ and overwhelmed by adoration, and he felt like he needed to do _something_ to channel his feelings, or else he would likely explode. Without thinking, Kuroo pressed a soft kiss on Kenma’s nape – the kiss was so _feather-light_ that Kenma didn’t even seem to notice it – he didn’t react or made any remark about it either. It was cathartic to Kuroo though, he felt his head spinning a bit from the contact with Kenma’s skin – which was warm and electrifying under his cool lips. If he had less of a self restraint, no doubt Kuroo would have peppered thousands more kisses all over Kenma’s nape, over his shoulders, down his spine, tracing each line and curve of Kenma’s neck with his mouth. Of course that was getting way ahead of himself, so he quickly reined in his wishful desires, thankful that he had enough of a self-control for now.

Having done that and gotten over (mostly anyway) Kenma’s warm nape, Kuroo continued wiping him down and helped him put on the fresh set of pyjamas. After that he brought Kenma his meds and a glass of water; which Kenma gulped down gratefully.

 

“Anything else you might need?” Kuroo asked him, still seated next to him. He helped Kenma to lie back down on the futon properly, and tucked in his patient safely.

“Nothing else. Thank you, Kuroo-san,” Kenma replied.

“Please, just Kuroo’s fine. You can drop the -san.”

“Thank you, Kuroo. Then call me Kenma. Kozume-san feels too stuffy anyway.”

 

Kuroo’s face lit up like a bright full moon at that, and in his elation he tucked Kenma’s long bangs behind his ear and kissed his forehead. All his inhibitions and guard washed away, along with the formalities of calling his customer by his last name. Kuroo brushed Kenma’s forehead with the back of his fingers a few times for good measure and got up to leave.

“Good night, Kenma,” said Kuroo, his smile reached his eyes and his entire body just exuded bliss. Kenma grunted in reply. Kuroo then turned off the lights and lingered for a few seconds in the doorway – drinking in the last few bits of Kenma’s presence – before disappearing to the living room.

Left alone now, Kenma covered his face with his hands and internally screamed. “ _How many times did he need to do that?!”_ Kenma thought, before thinking that this cannot be good for his heart – which was beating way too hard against his chest. He touched his own forehead and he swore he could still feel Kuroo’s lips there, cool and soft. Then he touched the back of his neck “– _he kissed me here too.”_

 

***

 

The next morning, he woke up feeling almost a hundred percent back to his normal self. He stood up and stretched his limbs – to test his current condition – his entire body no longer ached, his head didn’t feel heavy, and he could even do jumping jacks if he wanted. The medicine must have worked its charms. Kenma didn’t want to think too hard about _which_ _medicine_ exactly he was thinking about. He quickly went to the bathroom to freshen up.

Face washed and teeth brushed, he walked over to his living room to check up on Kuroo. He heard the gentle snores before he actually saw the man himself. He was lying on his back with his hands on his stomach, the extra blanket he took from Kenma’s room all bunched up around his calf. His chest rose and fell rhythmically; Kenma actually found that to be therapeutic, in a way. Kuroo’s sleeping face looked so different to Kenma. Somehow, he seemed younger, more innocent. And his hair wasn’t styled up like usual so that added to the whole soft look that he got going on right now. Kenma sat next to Kuroo and watched him sleep for a few good minutes before he suddenly felt like a creep for doing so.

 

“Kuroo. Kuroo, wake up,” said Kenma, while nudging his left shoulder.

Kuroo’s eyes opened at that, and he blinked a few times – a little confused with his whereabouts. He turned to the side and shifted his focus to Kenma as he slowly recalled where he was and why he was there. He was about to quip something about being woken up by sleeping beauty instead of the other way round, when Kenma reached down and planted a kiss on his left cheek. Kuroo sputtered at that and he sat up, hands on his left cheek where Kenma kissed him – all his sleepiness just went away entirely.

“That’s for kissing my forehead without warning last night,” Kenma said simply. “And after you brush your teeth, I’ll give you your payback for kissing my neck,” he added with a smirk.

 

Kuroo got up _immediately_ at that, and raced to the bathroom to brush his teeth, eager to claim his ‘payback’.

\--- 

**Author's Note:**

> \- Needless to say, some sexy times were had post-fic XD  
> Lol I kid, I kid. They just share some kisses maybe. And will take it real slow from here on out.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading! Leave a comment to make my day~ *winky face*


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